“I was nineteen,” Lyra said.
Her voice carried farther than she expected, clear in the stone chamber. No one coughed. No one shuffled. Even the elders who clearly wished she’d shut up watched her like a live grenade.
“Nineteen, and very sure I knew what my life was going to look like. Hunt, fix things, stand at my Alpha’s back, love the boy the moon handed me.” Her mouth twitched. “That last part was the only thing I actually got right.”
A low murmur moved around the benches.
Silas’s jaw tightened. “We are not here for a romance novel, girl—”
“We’re here because you made it a cautionary tale,” Lyra cut in. “You want facts? Fine.”
She looked at the presiding Councilor, not at Silas. “Thornridge called a circle. You all backed it. You told me and Jonah our bond would ‘complicate’ your
